This painting began with a sketch made at Mercy Hot Springs, California, last January. Dave also took a few photos of these guys in their defensive camouflage pose. I’ve been having fun working out compositions on narrow canvases and these owls fit in nicely.
California Scrub-Jay
Sometimes I forget that some of our local birds are pretty interesting especially if you have not seen them before. Once we were hiking and ran into a fellow who was excited seeing a wonderful blue-colored bird. In his case it was Steller’s Jay which is a very common species in the higher wooded areas of my county. It’s tempting to say so what, but I didn’t because I too go to places and see common local birds for the first time and am both awed and excited.
The California Scrub-Jay is a noisy and curious jay that frequents open scrub lands, back yards, parks and wherever else there is a chance of finding food. It is fairly common and seeing four or five on a short hike is not uncommon.
Speckled Tanager
I know that I have already placed a photograph of this species on the blog, but I ran across this one by accident and it’s too pretty to not post. The colors of this species is hard to fathom with its intense greens, blues and yellows.
This one was seen in Southern Costa Rica near its border with Panama.
Stripe-headed Sparrow
Macaw and Parakeet Sketches
This Military Macaw was a rescue bird used to people. He visited our porch in Rancho Primavera, Jalisco, Mexico and chewed up the furniture.
We had a quick look at these Orange-fronted Parakeets - I liked that they were feeding among purple flowers.
Groove-billed Ani
My nemesis bird. It is so common in parts of the world, but I spent 2 years looking for it in the U.S. where it is fairly common in the Southern States.
Photo taken at the Vallarta Gardens near Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Tufted Flycatcher
This small flycatcher was commonly seen during our eleven day visit in San Sebastián del Oeste and in the El Tuito area. This one was fairly cooperative and did not seem to mind me getting close for photos.
Slate-throated Redstart
This bird was pretty comfortable with us getting close. It was an active bug eater, fanning its tail to get bugs to jump or doing a "flycatcher" flight from a perch to snatch a bug and then fly back. It was constantly on the move in a green brushy area probably at around 6000' elevation on the road to La Bufa near San Sebastian del Oeste.
This species ranges from the Southwest US (rarely) down into Northern South America.
Hooded Orioles
Hooded Oriole Sketch
Our Hooded Orioles winter in Western Mexico. We saw these in a field with Vermillion Flycatchers and I loved all the red-oranges.
Black-throated Magpie-Jay
Black-throated Magpie-Jay sketch
Groups of Black-throated Magpie-Jays were spectacular. We saw several groups on the Rancho Primavera near El Tuito, Mexico.
Squirrel Cuckoo
Of the larger birds we encountered on our trip to Jalisco, Mexico, the Squirrel Cuckoo had to be on of the hardest to photograph and I never did get a good ventral photo of this species. They don’t like sitting in one place especially when someone is starring at them and pointing a camera lens their way. This individual was unusual because it stayed still for more than a couple of seconds.
Streak-backed Oriole Sketch
While Dave was photographing I made a quick sketch. I liked the orioles half hidden by the purple flowers.
Streak-backed Oriole
Another view of this species showing some detail of back feather detail.
Streak-backed Oriole
Floy and I have recently returned from an eleven day trip to Western Mexico. We started in the quaint old mining down of San Sebastián del Oeste which is about an hour and a half drive from Puerto Vallara. The town was founded in 1605 and it has the appearance of a Spanish colonial village. The second half of our trip was in the El Tuito area which is about an hour and a half south of Puerto Vallarta. We stayed at a nature preserve called Rancho Primavera, a beautiful semi-isolated place about a ten minute drive west of El Tuito.
The next several blog entries will be from both of us more or less documenting this trip. We will take care to add the category “Mexico 2020” so that you can search for them and view them as a group.
I thought I would start the series by posting a photo of the Streak-backed Oriole, a beautiful bird that was very common around the El Tuito area.
Enjoy!
Red-tailed Hawk Painting
‘Red-tailed Hawk’ 20” x 10” acrylic on wood panel
I like to imagine these majestic hawks surveying the golden hills.
Kestrel Sketch
Kestrel Sketch
Kestrels seemed to be everywhere on our recent birding trip to the California central valley and I plan to work on several paintings. Here is one sketch.
Long-eared Owl
Long-eared Owls are widespread over the North American continent. They eat small mammals and roost in dense trees. This one was seen in a vast open area in the Panoche Valley of California in a rare stand of trees in an oasis area.
Black Skimmer
While birding in Florida early in 2016 we came across a boat harbor. On one of the floats there were several Black Skimmers. They let me get surprisingly close. I put my camera down on the float and took this photo.
This bird has a shorter upper beak and uses its longer lower beak to skim the water for fish as it flies in long straight lines.
Goldfinch and Sunflower Painting
‘Goldfinch and Sunflowers’ 24” x 8” acrylic
This painting was inspired by wild sunflowers we saw on our Idaho birding trip last fall. It was fun to paint bright flowers in a gloomy December.
Black Oystercatcher
A fairly common oystercatcher of the West Coast of the United States. They are noisy and their bright orange beaks are easy to spot when they are on dark backgrounds. They feed on molluscs and crustaceans. They are often found on exposed, rocky shore working for food on the beds of the California Mussel which cover wave swept rocks.